What the heck is the matter with Robin Williams? Lately, he seems come
out with nothing but sappy melodramas like Patch Adams and Jakob
the Liar. These movies are supposed to lift your spirits and make
you feel good, instead, they leave you with the urge to vomit. Williams
is a talented actor, but all of these roles come off as plain annoying.
Even worse, Bicentennial Man goes from trying to be about life
to ruminating on death. The movie, based on the story by science fiction
legend Isaac Asimov and The Postronic Man by Asimov and Robert
Silverberg, wavers between trying to be cute and surprisingly depressing
ruminations on death.

Williams is a robot domestic servant, bought by Richard Martin (Sam Neill,
Merlin, The Horse Whisperer) for his family. Martin names the robot
Andrew (after a sickenly uncute joke), and the family begins to adapt
to life with him. Martin's daughter Amanda (Hallie Kate Eisenberg, The
Insider and the little girl in the Pepsi commercials) takes an
instant liking to him. Andrew begins to develop in odd ways; he is creative,
seems to show love and curiosity, and Martin is intrigued. Of course,
Andrew develops a sense of humor, which provides the token scene of Williams'
improvisation. Martin resolves to let Andrew fulfill his destiny, whatever
that may be. Andrew wants to be human. The movie then begins awkwardly
jumping forward, years at a time, showing Martin's trek for his humanity.
Along the way, Andrew meets up with Rupert Burns (Oliver Platt, Lake
Placid, Bulworth), the son of his original designer. Burns begins
designing parts for Andrew that vastly increases his human appearance.
Andrew also eventually ends up meeting Portia (Embeth Davidtz, Mansfield
Park, Murder in the First, who also plays the adult Amanda), the
granddaughter of Amanda.

For the most part, the aging effects are a little above par. Most of
the actors look older, instead of looking like the same actors with makeup.
The special effects are also generally pleasing, but nothing spectacular.
Hovering above (or below) everything else is the story. Director Chris
Columbus (Stepmom, Mrs. Doubtfire) and screenwriter Nicholas Kazan
(Fallen, Matilda) put together a boring story that tries to be
cute. In the first part of the movie, every line spoken by Eisenberg and
Williams tries to elicit an "aw shucks" reaction from the audience,
but falls flat. "It sucks" proclaims Martin's other daughter,
an ominous (and probably unintentional) foreshadowing of the rest of the
movie. Once the years begin to pass, everyone around Andrew begins to
die, and the movie heads further downhill. Being a robot makes Andrew
nearly immortal, something he did not consider. None of the advertisements
for this movie mentions how much of a downer it is. The title refers to
the length of Andrew's journey, but it feels more like the length of the
movie.